Iowa County democrat. [volume] (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1877-1938, 1887-09-02


the Waterlily, as ye call her-grow year by
year. from tenderest infancy to tender
childhood. and from childhood on toward
maidenhood. She has been your children's
playmate, she has helped to tend We when
sick, and ye have loved her"
I'VE have" said deep voice, land we
will die to save her"
II thank We from my heart-I thank We.
Sure am that now in this hour of darkest
trouble: now that her young life is like to
be cut off by cruel and savage men-who
of truth know not what they do'-ye will
strive your best to save her, and TO save me
and her mother from broken hearts.
Think, too of your own. wives and chill
dren. If she dies, her death will be fol-
lowed by an attack upon us here, and, at
the best, even if we hold our own, your
houses and gardens will be destroyed, and
YOUR goods and cattle swept away. l am,
as We well know, a man of peace. Never
in all these years have lifted my hand to
shed mans blood; but now / say strike!
strike in the name of God, who babe US
protect our lives and homes. Swear to
me-" he went on with added fervor-
"swear to me that whilst man Of We re-
mains alive We will strive your uttermost
WIFI lie anu llSSC D4GlhC "44AOC lAlS4i "
save the child from bloody and a cruel
deathr'
''Say no more, my father" said the same
deep voice, that belonged to a stalwart
elder Of the Mission; 1--WE swear it. May
we and ours die the death Of dogs. and our
bones be thrown to the jackals and the
kites if we break the oathl 1t is a fearful
thing to do, my father, so few TO strike so
4 - 4 10 i,,+
We swear!
Gay, so say we all, chimed in the others
$50 say we all" said I.
at is WELL" went on Mr.. Mackenzie.
eye are true men and not broken reeds to
lean on. And now, friends-white and
black tOgether-let Us kneel and offer up
our humble supplication to the Throne Of
Power, praying that He in the hollow Of
whose hand lie all our lives, who giveth
life and giveth death; may He be pleased
to make strong our hands that we may
prevail in what awaits us at the mornings
light"
And he knelt down, an example that we
all followed, except UmslOpogaas, who
still stood in the background, grimly lean
ing on his ak. The fierce old Zulu had no
gods, and worshipped nought, unless it
were his battle-aX.
ooh God OF gods!' began the clergyman,
his deep voice, tremulous with emotion;
echoing up in the silence even to the leafy
roof; protector of the oppressed, Refuge
of those in danger, Guardian of the help
less, hear Thou our prayer! Almighty
Father, to thee we come in suppication.
Hear Thou our prayer Behold one eve
lamb hast thou given us-an innocent
child, nurtured in Thy knowledge-and
now she lies meath the shadow of the
sword, in danger of a fearful death at the
hands of cruel men. Be with her now, oh
God, and comfort herl Save her, oh Heav-
emily Father! Oh God of battle, who teach
eth orr hands to war and our fingers TO
fight, in whose men lie the destinies of
men, be Thou with us in the hour of strife
When we go forth into the shadow of
death, make Thou us strong to conquer
Breathe Thou upon our foes and scatter
them; turn Thou their strength to water,
and bring their high blown pride to noueht;
compass us about with Thy projections;
throw over us the shield of Thy power; for
get us not now in the hour of our sore dis
tress; help us now that the cruel man
would dash our little ones against the
stones! Hear Thou our prayer! And for
tilpot VI US WIN, huttllllS HOW Oh bSlElu III
health before Thee, shall at the sunrise
adore Thy Presence on the Throne, hear
our prayer. Make them clean, oh God
wash away their offenses in the blood of
the Lamb; and when their spirits pass, oh
receive Thou them into the haven of the
just. Go forth, o Father, go forth with
us into the battle, as with the Israelites of
Old. God of battles, hear Thou our prayerr'
L. a.. q
we all rose, and then began our prepare
ttons in good earnest. AS Umslopogaas
said it was time to stop talking and get to
business. The men who were to form each
little party were carefully selected, and
still more carefully and infinitely instruct
ed as to what was to be done. After much
consideration it was agreed that the ten
men led by Good, whose duty was to STAN
pede the camp, were not to carry firearms;
this is with the exception Of Good himself,
who had a revolver as well as short sword
the Nasal ''sime" which l had taken
from the body of our poor servant who was
murdered in the canoe. We feared that if
they had firearms, the result of three cross
fires carried on at once would be that some
of our own people would be shot; besides
it appeared to all Of us that the work they
cold steel-especially to Umslopogaas, who
was, indeed, a great advocate of cold steel
We had with us four Winchester repeating
rifles, besides half dozen Martins. |
armed myself with one of the repeaters-
my own; an excellent weapon for this kind
of work, where great rapidity of fire is de.
sirable, and fitted with ordinary f1ap-sights,
instead of the usual cumbersome sliding
mechanism which they generally have
Mr. Mackenzie took another, and the two
remaining ones were given to two OF his
men who understood the use Of them and
were noted shots. The Martins and some
rifles of Dir. Mackenzie's were served out,
together with plentiful supply of ammu-
milton; to the other natives who were to
form the two parties whose duty it was to
be to open fire from separate sides on the
sleeping Nasal, and who were, fortunately,
all more or less accustomed to the use of
gun.
As for Umslopogaas, we knew how he
was armed-with an ak. 1t may be re-
membered that he, Sir Henry, and the
strongest of the Askari were to hold the
thorn-stopped entrance to the kraal against
the anticipated rush of men striving t.
escape. OF course, for such a purpose rs
this guns Were useless. Therefore Sir
Henry and the Askari proceeded to arm
themselves in like fashion. 1t so happened
that Mr.. Mackenzie had III his little store
selection of the very best steel English
made hammer backed aX-heads Sir Henry
selected one of these, weighing about two
and half pounds and very broad in the
blade, and the Askari took another size
smaller. After Umslopogaas had put an
extra edge on these two aX-heads, we pro-
ceeded TO fix them to three feet six helves,
of which Mr.. Mackenzie fortunately had
some in stock, made of light but exceed
lngly tough native wood, something like
English ash, only more springy. When
two suitable pieces had been selected with
great care, and the ends of the haft notched
to prevent the han from slipping the Az
heads were fixed on them rs firmly as
possible, and the weapons immersed in
bucket OF water for half an hour The re-
suit of this was to swell the wood in the
socket in such fashion that nothing short
of burning would get it out again When
this Important matter nae been attended
to by Umslopogaas, went into my room
and proceeded to open a little lined deal
case, which had not been undone since we
left England, and which contained-what
do you think2-nothing more or less than
four mail shirts
II had happened to us three, on previ-
Gus journey that We had made in another
part of Africa, to owe our lives to iron
shirts OF native make; and. remembering
this. | had SuCCpSted before ,ya S+or+ad ~,